Don’t become an unknowing member of a botnet!

Don’t become an unknowing member of a botnet! 

Releasing malware into undefended or poorly defended networks has been a key method of choice for malicious actors. Malware attacks have been on the rise in the past number of years. It is estimated that the volume of cyber-attacks in the Asia-Pacific region has nearly doubled in the past year alone, accompanied by a two-third increase in the number of sophisticated attacks.  

Hackers often hijack servers and connected devices from unsuspecting businesses and integrate them into their botnet constellation. These hijacked devices are then used to recruit new bots for the botmaster. Botnets are utilised for brute force, privilege abuse, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), and many other types of attacks on business, government, and academic institutions. In other cases, the botmaster engages the hijacked devices in its crypto mining operations.  

Some common malware entry points are poorly secured remote connection protocols and shared system access credentials. Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints are also a very common target for malware launchers. IoT endpoints using weak or default passwords are often easily hijacked and turned into bots, so much so that some in the industry have started to refer to these endpoints as the DDoS of Things! 

In light of such fast-increasing threat levels, small and medium sized enterprises are best advised to immediately assess their cybersecurity posture and follow up on the remediation strategies required to minimize their exposure to malware attacks. We understand that this task may seem daunting for a lot of small businesses, and this is exactly why we have tailor made our Cyber Resilience Assessment solutions to their needs. Please view our Services page to find out more about how we can help you protect your business against malware and other types of cyber threats!